ESA Journals Achieve Historically High Impact Factors

July 6, 2021

The impact factors for the Ecological Society of America’s five journals have increased by 18% on average, according to the 2021 Edition of the Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) published by Clarivate Analytics. This metric provides a ratio of citations received by publications in a journal in a given year to the total number of citable items in the prior two years. “In this unprecedented year where all aspects of life, science, and publishing have been upended, we are pleased and proud that work published in ESA journals is being used and highly recognized by the community,” said ESA President Kathleen Weathers.

The 2021 JCR release shows these data highlights:

• ESA journals had 9,356 citations in 2020 from papers published in 2018 and 2019 that contributed to impact factors.
• Out of 5 titles, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (11.123) and Ecological Monographs (10.315) have an impact factor over 10.0, and 3 titles have an impact factor greater than 3.0.
• ESA titles include the #4 (Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment) and #6 (Ecological Monographs) ranked journals in the Ecology category (166 ranked journals in the category).
• The impact factor for Ecology increased from 4.7 to 5.499, Ecological Applications increased from 4.248 to 4.657, and Ecosphere increased from 2.878 to 3.171.

“ESA would like to express its gratitude to the authors, reviewers, and editors for their invaluable contributions to the success our journals have achieved,” said Director of Publishing Zsolt Silberer. “Impact factors remain one of the most widely accepted indicators of journal quality and influence, and it is wonderful to see the continued relevance of our journals. The contributions of our great authors, editors, reviewers, and publishing team are a testament to our success.”

*Source: Clarivate, 2021 (Clarivate Releases Journal Citation Reports, Naming the World’s Leading Journals)